| Posted on Tuesday, May 25, 2004 - 10:20 am: |   
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Tuesday, May 25
The trip to Kaua'i was wonderful. A long flight, but I enjoyed seeing some of the island. It is amazing how hibiscus grow in the wild, along with other brightly flowering plants and trees. I had no idea what most of the plants and trees were and would need to completely re-learn about gardening in such a tropical place if I ever found myself living there (not likely!). Prices were high and the cost of living would be very expensive. I understand there are a number of movie stars who have a home on the island--no surprise there! It is truly a wild paradise. But I don't think I'd like living on a small island, especially one so far from any mainland. But visiting was a wonderful experience.
When I returned to my garden, many plants had burst into bloom, including several clematis. Buds were everywhere on the old garden roses, and the grass was really tall! It rained quite a bit while we were away and the temperatures were warm, too. DH mowed and weedwacked--including my garlic chives, some iris, and two rose canes. Well, they'll regrow and it provided me with a new incentive to edge my garden beds! I have part of one bed edged, so I'm maybe one-quarter done?? I'm beginning to think I have too many garden beds.
It's strange how garden beds change from year to year. Last year I had a bed that seemed to be a nice combination of pinks and blues. This year it seems the blues are dominating. It's still early, so I'll wait to see what else blooms. I've planted a bunch of tiny winter sown seedlings. When I first started planting them into the garden, I was careful to make notes of what I was planting and where. But because I had so many, I just started popping them in anywhere, so it will be a surprise when I see them bloom, whether this year or next! I'm just a chaotic gardener, I guess!
There is quite a bit of insect damage on some of the seedlings and some have disappeared completely. Well, survival of the fittest, I guess. If something I really wanted doesn't survive, I'll try again another time and be more careful to nurture the seedlings before setting them out. But I won't ever again try to winter sow so many seeds--it is too overwhelming to try to plant so many seedlings in the spring when other chores need to be done, too. (Hard to find spots for them, too!)
I planted the clematis Arabella next to my azalea Gibralter. I hope next year, if both survive, they will bloom together. I still have 2 Marmoris, a Reiman, Ruutel, Kullus, and Proteus to find homes for. Also, another clematis that I dug out and put it in a pot because it wasn't doing well in its spot. I have to look at my chart and find out just which one it is!
I stopped briefly at a local garden club's May Mart and bought two small purple balloon flower plants and a larger double blue as well as some annuals and planted them Saturday and Sunday. Also, I purchased an unnamed iris, a tall white columbine (not sure it will survive) and two small hostas from garden members' gardens for a couple of dollars. I still have a bunch of dwarf dahlias I grew from seed that need planted. I will be planting them wherever I can find a square foot of ground. Since I don't know what colors they will bloom, it could be a good or a bad choice.
I noticed that some of the small anemones I planted bare root this spring have died. Some are doing okay, so I will just find other plants for those spots. I certainly have some waiting for a place in the ground! And I need to get my tomato plants into the ground, but the irises and cardinal flowers I usually pot and put onto the ledges of my small pond are still in the ground in the tomatoes' spot...I think I have overextended myself this spring! |
| Posted on Saturday, June 05, 2004 - 10:23 pm: |
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Sat., June 5
The weather the last week or so has been rainy and cool. I just looked up the data and it appears that on 20 days in May and on every day in June we have had some precipitation! While plants are very green, it is hard to work the ground when it is so wet.
I have very soggy spring blooming roses. I am sorry because they will last a much shorter time and look less lovely when they are always hanging their canes in the mud and the blossoms are like wet kleenex. I discovered some disturbingly strange growth on the rose Mme. Plantier. I cut the cane off, but will watch it for other signs of rose rosette disease. I may have to remove the rose if the symptoms show up in more canes. It is a huge rose and I will be sorry to lose it (no cure for this rose disease and it can spread to other roses).
I have indulged myself yet again and visited the local nurseries last weekend and this weekend. Last weekend I bought an oriental poppy named 'Pink Ruffles.' When it bloomed, I wasn't very impressed, but with the rain it didn't last very long. I also bought a Royal Wedding oriental poppy and don't expect to see that bloom until next year.
I bought a peach iris from a woman in the neighborhood, but when I decided to plant it today, the rhizome was mostly rotted--too much rain. Many of my own irises have done the same thing this spring.
At WalMart I bought several gallon-sized shrubs: Dart's Gold ninebark, hibiscus 'Peony,' 'Wine and Roses' Weigela, Korean lilac 'Paliban,' and a variegated dogwood for $4.50 each. Also a Thuja occidentalis 'George Peabody.' I think the arborvitae is going to be too large for the location I was thinking about, so I'll have to think about a new space for it!
A couple days ago I bought some blue flax, hens and chicks, Cheddar Pink dianthus, and 4 zinnia seedlings. Today it was raining again, so DH and I went shopping once more. The local nursery was having a stone mason talk about laying dry stone walls, so we attended. Afterward the owner of the nursery gave all attendees a Japanese Painted Fern. They also had some quart sized plants for a dollar and some other bargain priced plants, so we came home with: creeping pink baby's breath, Dicentra eximia, Saponaria ocymoides (pink soapwort), Digitalis mertonensis, 3 iris ensata @ $3 each (Innocence, Pinstripe and Caprician Butterfly), Silphium lacianatum (compass plant). Also, a wooly thyme and Lysimachia punctata 'Alexander' from another nursery.
Then we went to Lowe's and I saw a Magnolia 'Jane' for $11. After looking it up on the web, I may purchase that tomorrow if there are any remaining. I may get done planting by Labor Day. My husband said I have a severe addiction and need a 12 step program for gardeners. I am beginning to think he is correct!
Perhaps it's a good thing I don't live in a climate where I can plant year 'round! |
| Posted on Tuesday, June 08, 2004 - 10:18 am: |
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Tuesday, June 8, 2004
Sunday I planted out my tomatoes and some basil plants. Yesterday I put newspaper mulch around them. Glad I got that done! Today it's supposed to be 90F--too hot for this time of the year!
From mid-May to mid-June is usually my favorite time in the gardens. Unfortunately, this year we had so much rain that both my iris and spring blooming roses suffered shorter bloom times. Some rose buds were attacked by fungus before they could open. Many iris blooms just rotted before they could bloom and rhizomes are doing the same. I've dug some iris out already and want to prepare a better drained bed to put some of them back--those that have any rhizome remaining! 
I have some annual poppies blooming now--pretty doubles. I will try to take photos of them this afternoon. I threw around some California poppy and Cosmos seeds yesterday. Hope some of them come up, but I didn't take too much care with them. Also put some nasturtium seeds in the ground. I'm not sure they are viable, so if they don't pop up in the next week or so, I have other plants I can put into those spots. |
| Posted on Wednesday, June 23, 2004 - 11:47 am: |
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Wednesday, June 23, 2004
Two weeks since I've written here. Hard to believe July is only a week away!
The spring blooming roses are done and I cut back most of them. Several of my other rose bushes have not done a thing this spring. They died back to a few inches tall over winter and are just not getting larger or forming buds. If they do nothing by the end of summer, I believe I will remove them next year. Those roses include Buck roses 'Hi, Neighbor' and 'Wild Ginger,' Bucknell rose 'Orange Ruffels,' hybrid perpetuals 'Henry Nevard' and 'Mme. Isaac Pereire,' Austin roses 'Tradescant,' 'Pat Austin' (I'll be so sorry to see that one go--I loved the photos of blooms I've seen!) and 'Brother Cadfael,' moss roses 'Gabrielle Noyelle' and 'Robert Leopold.' There may be others I can't think of.
I planted many winter sown seedlings and some clematis and shrubs the last two weeks in between the rain storms we've experienced--we had over 4 inches of rain during the first 2 weeks of June. I still have 4 clematis, one dahlia started in a pot, the dogwood, thuja and magnolia mentioned above to plant, in addition to 3 crabapple seedlings I started this winter. Still have weeding and bed edging to do and the new, better draining bed to make for iris. And mulching, spreading mushroom manure, and other garden tasks still to do.
Discovered a wasp nest in my greenhouse--yeow, got two stings before I got away from those buggers--one even followed me into the house. I promptly got him back with the flyswatter. DH got bug spray and eliminated them from the GH. He said it was a small nest, about a dozen insects. But he said nearby in the GH was a larger nest of yellow jackets, about the size of a cantaloupe! He got rid of them too. I hate to kill things, but don't want those kinds of unwanted visitors in my GH! |
| Posted on Wednesday, June 30, 2004 - 03:04 pm: |
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Wednesday, June 30
I can't believe June is over--it hardly seems like we've had any warm, sunny days at all yet to enjoy the garden.
Still haven't planted the 4 clematis waiting in pots and have some integrifolia clems coming to me. I did get the Thuja occidentalis 'George Peabody planted. I may decide I don't like it, but it's in the ground for now.
Yesterday I dug out 2 large clumps of iris that are in spots too wet for them. They have both iris borers and bacterial rot from the very wet spring we had. I dug, cut, soaked and am drying the rhizomes now. Lovely clumps I had of light blue and multi colored iris have been decimated by the bugs and rot with little to salvage. I've made a new raised bed with better drainage (hopefully!) to transplant what I've rescued. Then I have one more large 4x3 foot section of iris to deal with. I have some Siberian iris I will try in a couple of the damper spots and will amend and then plant integrifolia in a couple of the other beds.
Rabbits have been getting inside my chain link fenced-in yard and doing some damage. I hate it! They've chewed down a new oriental lily. I could see if they ate it, but they just cut it and left it lay in the dirt!! Arghh! Hate that! They have done the same with some dwarf dahlias I planted outside the fence. I don't get it--why do they bite them off and not eat them!??
Voles (I think!) and chipmunks have dug tunnels throughout my garden beds. I'm always having to fill in holes and tamp around plants. No wonder some plants aren't doing very well!
Raspberries and blueberries are ripening now (the raccoon has been in the yard and breaking canes to get the raspberries). It just seems that I have too much wildlife around here! |
| Posted on Saturday, August 07, 2004 - 08:28 pm: |
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Saturday, August 7
I totally missed writing during the month of July. Probably because I was so disappointed with my garden this summer. We had so much rain and cooler weather that many plants didn't flower well, or flowers became big clumps of wet goop. Lots of insect damage too.
Last month DH and I created an island bed on the east side of our house. I moved some plants from various places in the yard--a couple butterfly bushes, Siberian iris, some succulents and hens and chicks, and Dart's Gold ninebark, magnolia 'Jane' and variegated dogwood bought previously. Now they just need to survive the deer! Anything the deer find too enticing will be replaced next year if it doesn't make it.
I did have one nice surprise. A swamp hibiscus I planted last year first flowered pink and white a couple weeks ago. Then flowers on other stems opened today to a deep red. So I guess I got two plants in one pot. That was very nice!
Today I removed two roses. One definitely had rose rosette disease. The other was just doing poorly and had only a couple of flowers all summer. I picked up 3 gallon sized lilacs on clearance for $4.50 each and one 'Limelight' hydrangea. I planted lilac 'Belle de Nancy,' a pink flowering type in place of my 'John Cabot' rose and the hydrangea in place of an antique rose 'Marchioness of Londonderry.' The second lilac, 'Nadezhda,' will replace rose 'Mme. Isaac Pereire' which has not flowered at all yet this year. I am waiting for two buds on the plant to open so I can enjoy them, then I will dig it out.
Most of the dwarf dahlias I started from seed have done very well. I have red, pink, yellow, peach, and white in single, double and other forms as well. I'm not sure if I'll try to save the tubers of the plants I like, or just start new plants from seed next year. It was fun waiting to see what the flowers would be like.
DH cleared some more sod for me next to our back stairs, so I have a couple new mums to put there and will see what other plants I might want to move that are being crowded out in other beds. I still have some pale purple iris rhizomes that I didn't plant yet, so I may pop a few in this bed. I also want to plant some spring bulbs there--maybe crocus, allium and hyacinth. |
| Posted on Monday, August 16, 2004 - 10:07 am: |
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Monday, August 16
It was a beautiful weekend for a change--sunny and warm, but felt more like September than August. I did several things in the garden.
I found two cut leaf maple seedlings growing under my Japanese maple tree this spring, so I potted them up. Sunday I planted one of them with protection in my island garden bed. The deer regularly browse this side of the house, but I'm hoping I can protect it until it gets large enough, if it survives this winter. The second I'm thinking of trying to make into a bonsai, so I'll have to ask advice from Kath. First, it has to survive the winter!
I dug out the rose 'Mme. Isaac Pereire' and planted the lilac 'Nadezhda.' I looked the lilac up on the web and it seems it may bloom only every other year. I also planted two clems with the lilac, since they weren't doing much where they were planted, Bees Jubilee and one of the four Etoile Violet clems I have (three were mis-named).
I planted three crabapple seedings I started from seed this spring. I'm hoping the deer or rabbits don't eat them since they are planted outside the fence, but I'm not going to baby them. I also planted some seedling buddleia in the same bed. I believe the deer usually ignore them.
I planted a marked down blue hosta--supposed to be 'Blue Giant'--under a maple tree and moved a second blue hosta there from the east side of the house where it was getting too much sun and looked crispy. Also moved a bergenia that I've had for years but has always done poorly into the same bed. It's just hanging on. Perhaps this will either kill it or maybe help it!
DH helped me dig out (actually pulled them out with his truck) two cotoneasters planted on a slope that had been looking bad. They're about 8 years old and always had some dead branches on them. Perhaps I'll plant Blue Rug juniper there or look for another type of ground cover.
I pruned some dead branches from my Russian olive trees. They seem to have a lot of dieback for me, but I love the scent of their blossoms in spring. I had four. One is dead now and one has a lot of sap oozing out of trunk and branches, so I suppose it will be dead in the spring. I wish I had tried to keep them as shrubs. I also pulled out many blackberry brambles from in among the trees. I have the scratches to prove it. Unfortunately, because I didn't get the roots out, I know they'll be back!
Last weekend I planted the new bed beside the backyard stairs. I moved coneflowers, Siberian iris, columbine, and several other plants into this bed. I'd like to find a dwarf red laceleaf maple to add to it, but haven't come across any small ones yet.
I still haven't done anything with the bed in the front of the house beside the front door. I'm not sure what to do with it, but if we have more nice weather next weekend, I'll start by removing the lemon balm that has taken over. And DH is supposed to bring home more mushroom manure for me today. |
| Posted on Monday, October 11, 2004 - 08:12 pm: |
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Wow! October already--I can't believe I haven't written here for nearly two months.
I did yank out the lemon balm in the front of the house and last weekend DH brought some larger rocks from the woods on our property to put there. I still haven't decided what else to plant by the front door. It has looked bad for the past few years. I guess that will be a project for next year.
I also found a small red Japanese cutleaf maple for $25. Not in the best shape, but it if survives the winter, perhaps it will put on some new growth next year. I planted it in the spot I had saved near the sidewalk and steps.
We have had only light, scattered frost, but that may change soon. If we escape frost tonight, it looks like we'll be okay for the rest of the week. Dahlias are still blooming along with datura, mums, some few clematis, salvia, tithonia, helenium, foxglove, buddleia, some roses, and a grape iris that surprised me by blooming this fall. The brugmansia was brought into the house. It's dropping leaves like crazy, but a few trumpets are still opening, so I'll put up with the mess until it is done--another week or so. My ficus has grown larger over the summer while outside, but it is back in the house now. If I have to re-pot it, I won't be able to move it! A tropical hibiscus is blooming in the house also. I moved all the house plants inside and I refuse to move them out in the day and in at night--they are just too hard to handle, even on wheels.
I've gathered some seeds for sharing and winter sowing--that 'W' word makes me shudder! |
| Posted on Tuesday, December 28, 2004 - 12:03 am: |
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Christmas is over for another year. One thing I did that gave me much pleasure was to print and frame photos of flowers from my garden and other gardens I visited and give them as gifts to my sisters. They liked them. 
Almost the new year! Weather is cold here, but I've been sifting through my seed box, looking for what I'll winter sow in the next few weeks. I picked out some columbine, calendula, iris, dianthus, and several more kinds of seeds, made some markers for the pots, and will do some planting soon. I have several kinds of seeds shared by other GBs I'm looking forward to growing.
We had a sunny day today, but only in the 20s. The sun warmed the greenhouse up nicely to 60. But my potting soil was frozen so it's in the basement to thaw. I'll wait for the next sunny day when I'm home and start filling pots and sowing seeds. Growing plants from seeds is a miracle that never ceases to amaze me. |
| Posted on Saturday, March 19, 2005 - 03:07 pm: |
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Spring! Finally a day off from work with warm temperatures (50s) and no snow on the ground! I took advantage to cut down my grasses and pruned sweet autumn clematis, Comtesse de Bouchaud and Polish Spirit. Now I have to look up my other clems to see what type they are and how to prune. I'll save that for another day. The ground is still frozen and I know we'll have more cold, snowy days so I'll do further clean up and pruning next month. I have some small crocuses blooming now, a wonderful sight for a flower-starved gardener. |
| Posted on Friday, January 13, 2006 - 09:33 am: |
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It's been so long since I've written here--almost a year! Where has the time gone? The 2005 gardening season was probably the most disappointing in several years--perhaps one reason I didn't post here last spring/summer. A very cold spring followed by a very dry summer, then a prolonged warm fall. I took fewer photos than I had in previous years. This strawflower is an annual I planted for the first time last year that I liked very much.
I planted some seeds via winter sowing this month. I have a hand written record, but need to transfer them here.
I've placed a couple of mail orders already--and have another that I'm just waiting until their website ordering system is activated. I've ordered these plants
Anemone hybrida 'Party Dress'
Hemerocallis 'Lime Frost'
Hemerocallis 'Siloam Double Classic'
Thyme Orange Balsam
Viburnum 'Carlesi Compacta'
Football Mum collection
And these bulbs:
5 Pink Martagon Lily bulbs
Black Beauty lily
Striped Wonder Orange Canna Lily with variegated foliage
Nippon Oriental Hybrid lily
Sorbonne Oriental Hybrid lily
I think, once again, I am going overboard and will have too many plants for too little space! |
| Posted on Saturday, January 14, 2006 - 01:03 pm: |
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Here's my list of seeds started so far this month. I know that no matter how many don't germinate, I will still have too many plants to plant!
Seeds started, from trades:
Aconitum, from '04 & '05 seeds
Amsonia hubrechtii
Amsonia tabernaemontana
Aster, Crego mix
Boltonia, pink
Centaurea macrocephala, from 'Lemon Fluff'
Daylilies, mixed colors
Dictamnus albus, white
Echinacea, coneflower from 'Sunrise' & 'Sunset'
Erysimum cheiri, wallflower, mixed colors
Gaillardia from 'Arizona Sun'
Hamamelis virginiana, Witch Hazel, 2 seeds collected from woods
Lespedeza thunbergii, Bush Clover
Liatris spicata alba
Lilium formosanum, Formosa lily
Lilium lancifolium, tiger lily bubils
Limonium latifolium, Sea Lavender
Panicum virgatum, switch grass from 'Heavy Metal'
Peony seeds, mixed, from my peonies
Trollius europeaus, globe flower, yellow
From commercial seeds:
Digitalis, white foxglove
Lavatera 'White Cherub' (should have waited to start this annual!)
Malva moschata 'Pirouette'
Phlomis russeliana, Jerusalem sage
Polemonium, White flowered Jacob's ladder
Potentilla 'Melton's Fire'
I will be adding to this list during the next several weeks--still have a boxful of seeds to plant.  |
| Posted on Friday, May 19, 2006 - 06:54 pm: |
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Months have gone by...winter has flown and spring is in full force. It has been rainy and cold for these last few weeks. But the hummingbirds are back! They arrived last week. Surely nicer weather is just around the corner!
During the long winter I succumbed to a compulsion to buy daylilies--over 40 are here and waiting to be planted. Lord help me! Okay--I'm done with feeling guilty!
Today I bought a peony 'Bowl of Beauty.' At least that's the name on the label. I'll see when the 3 buds open. Tomorrow I am going to a workshop about composting and am supposed to get a free bin. I do toss my vegetable scraps and greens on a pile, but I've never done it the 'right' way. I'll finally learn the secret to why my compost pile is a big, slimy mess!
Winter sowing was somewhat successful. I'm always grateful--by May, anyway--when not everything germinates. Unfortunately, sometimes my lusted for seeds don't germinate, but I usually get over it by the time they all need a home in the garden. I do have blue baptisia, amsonia and pink boltonia sprouts, so I'm pleased.
Some photos from May
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| Posted on Monday, May 22, 2006 - 07:36 pm: |
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So far this spring I've killed two orange thyme plants because I let them bake in their little 3-pack container. The first of how many this season--hard to tell!
On Saturday I dug out 10 square feet of malva moschata that had self seeded and was growing nicely--about a foot tall by now. They have roots about a foot or more long and will take over if I let them. I waited to long to do the weeding and discovered later that I pulled a muscle in my back while yanking and digging them. I'm sure it will heal in a few days, but I had to take it easy on Sunday. I had planned to dig out about 10 square feet of grass! That will have to wait for another week.
I bought a dianthus 'Raspberry Swirl' aka 'Siskin Clock.' Upon reading the label I learned it may not overwinter in my zone. Rather than return it, I planted it in a somewhat well-drained location and will hope for the best.
The same day I bought Aquilegia 'The Dove,' Geranium 'Hocus Pocus' and an azure monkshood, Aconitum carmichaelii. I haven't looked it up to see if it is labeled correctly. I realize it is a poisonous plant and will treat it with care. I lost a tiny bareroot one to Verticillium wilt last year so perhaps this one will suffer the same fate.
Hocus Pocus
The Dove
Today I planted out a few more of my tiny wintersown seedlings. I'm especially hoping the pink boltonia does well.
May 21, 2006 - a sunny afternoon
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| Posted on Thursday, June 01, 2006 - 09:54 pm: |
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Darn! I ran the hose over the white columbine and broke off the flower stalks! No seeds from that one this year so I hope it survives the winter.
The iris have been blooming for over a week, filling the air with their sweet fragrance. The antique roses have just begun to bloom and the mock orange shouldn't be too far behind. Russian olive blooms are extremely sweet and their fragrance wafts on hot sunny afternoons. Unfortunately, it is now damp and cloudy and may be that way for the next few days! The peonies are beginning to open, too.
This is an interesting dianthus!
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